Posts Tagged ‘Rule of Law’

Dan Mitchell

Economic Growth, Part III: When All Else Fails, Try Freedom

by Dan Mitchell

We’ve learned that Keynesianism does not make sense and that Obama’s so-called stimulus was misguided. In the final installment of this three-part series, let’s discuss the policies that actually would improve economic performance. As this video explains, both Economic Freedom of the World and the Index of Economic Freedom identify sound money, rule of law, property rights, small government, low tax rates, open markets, and laissez faire as the key conditions for prosperity.


The simple summary of the video is that economic liberalization and small government boost economic performance, not “jobs programs” or “stimulus packages.” But things are never as simple as they seem. Many Republicans, for instance, act as if any economic problem can be solved by cutting taxes. That’s a laundable instinct, to be sure, but fiscal policy only accounts for 20 percent of a nation’s economic performance and it is unreasonable to assume good tax policy can solve the problems caused by bad monetary policy or foolish regulatory interventions. Moreover, there is a big difference between good (supply-side) tax cuts that increase incentives for productive behavior and useless gimmicks such as tax credits and tax holidays. If Republicans want to rebuild their credibility on economic issues, they need to apologize for the reckless statism of the Bush years and rededicate themselves to shrinking the size and scope of the federal government.

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Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 7:03 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, Tax Reform | 8 Comments

Thomas Del Beccaro

Jerry Brown: Acorn, Suspicion and the Rule of Law

by Thomas Del Beccaro

According to the legendary Greek Historian Plutarch, when asked why he divorced his wife, Caesar stated that:  “All women shall be as Caesar would have his wife, not only free from sin, but from suspicion.”  At the time, Caesar’s wife, Pompeia, was loosely associated with the commission of a sacrilege by someone else.  As recent events have confirmed, Attorney General Jerry Brown is hardly burdened by suspicions – let alone high ethical standards.

jerry_brown_crossed-arms

As most everyone in the political world now knows, ACORN is under investigation in many states, and by the federal government, for a host of crimes.  The same holds true in California – or does it?

Notwithstanding the purported investigation of ACORN by the California Attorney General’s Office, according to David Lagstein, ACORN’s chief organizer in the San Diego:  the Attorney General Jerry Brown is a “political animal” and that “certainly every bit of communication we have had with them has suggested that the fault will be found with the people that did the video — not with ACORN.”

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Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 11:17 am in Uncategorized | 71 Comments